19 APRIL 2003 & 12 JULY 2003
LYON-ARLES

RHONE RIVER

SATURDAY   :                                                                                                                                 LYON
Assembly  at 3pm in Lyon  Hotel Le Méridien and private coach transfer to the Chardonnay moored close to the city centre in Lyon. Welcome on board by the crew with cocktails followed by free time to stroll into town before dinner

Sunday :                                                                                                                              ANDANCE
After breakfast there will be a guided walking tour of the old city of  Lyon followed by free time to explore before catching up with  the Chardonnay in time for lunch some thirty kilometres south of Lyon in Vienne, an important Roman administrative centre and trading post as the remains of a large Roman theatre bear witness. We cruise through the afternoon down a most attractive winding stretch of the river, bordered by vineyards, passing the village of Condrieu, famous for its high quality white wine. We moor for the evening at a quiet spot in the village of Andance.

Monday :                                                                                                    ANDANCE/TOURNON/VIVIERS
We cast off early this morning and cruise before and during breakfast to Tournon, a small , unspoilt town with a view of the world famous vineyards of Tain l’Hermitage on the opposite bank of the river. There will be a guided tour  of the château of Tournon which houses an interesting museum followed a visit to a wine cellar to sample some of the famous local vintages, among the most renowned of the Rhône wines. We return to the Chardonnay for lunch and cast off to make a long afternoon cruise that takes us through the town of Valence, past the romantic hilltop Château de Rochemaure and past the town of Montélimar, famous for its nougat, to moor in the early evening at Viviers, an unspoiled small town that was the seat of a bishopric from the fifth century until the Revolution. The former importance of the town accounts for its remarkable architectural heritage, making this a most agreeable place for an evening stroll.  

Tuesday :                                                                                                    VIVIERS/ROQUEMAURE
This morning we visit Nyons, a busy town of some seven thousand inhabitants which is nestled in a protective ring of mountains giving it a micro-climate with exceptionally mild winters allowing exotic flora to flourish. Nyons is known as the olive oil capital of Provence and we will visit a press to see how the oil is made and also a lavender distillery to discover how another typical product of the region is processed. We return to the Chardonnay at Viviers. We cast off as lunch begins and shortly afterwards enter the canal of Donzère Mondragon. It is the longest artificial canal section of the Rhône navigation and was a major feat of engineering when completed in the nineteen-fifties. It incorporates the Bollène lock, the deepest in Europe, which we pass in the mid-afternoon and which enables boats to descend nearly a hundred feet in a few minutes. We moor late in the afternoon at a quiet spot near the near the village of Roquemaure, overlooked by the ruins of a medieval fortress, the Château d’Hers, and with a view of the ruins of Chateauneuf du Pape in the distance.

Wednesday :                                                                                              ROQUEMAURE/AVIGNON
During the morning we cruise past Villeneuve lès Avignon and continue to the south of Avignon itself in order to turn and head back upstream into an arm of the Rhône , mostly fed by the river Ouvèze, that gives access to the famous city, passing by the fabled Saint Bénézet bridge and at the foot of the ramparts on which the papal palace stands. After lunch there will be a walking tour of this magnificent city, the massive stone city walls, the impressive Papal Palace and the old town, followed by free time to explore with no need to rush, as the boat remains moored in Avignon this evening.

Thursday :                                                                                                    AVIGNON/ ARLES
This morning there will be an excursion to Saint Rémy-de-Provence. A drive of about half an hour brings us to this typically Provençal town of plane tree-lined boulevards, where Van Gogh painted and spent several of the last months of his life at the hospital of Saint Paul de Mausole just outside town. The olive groves here seem particularly familiar. There will also be a chance to get a view of the remarkably preserved triumphal arch and funerary monument at Glanum, Roman town that lay hidden beneath river silt for nearly two millennia.   We return to the Chardonnay at a country mooring near the village of Vallabrègues for lunch, and cruise to Arles, passing by the towns of Tarascon, and Beaucaire. Once we moor in the mid-afternoon, there will be a guided walking tour some of the principal sights of Arles such as the Roman theatre and amphitheatre and the elegant 12c church of St. Trophime with its famous cloisters. Gala farewell dinner on board.

Friday :                                                                                                                   ARLES
After breakfast, coach transfer to Nimes (approx. arrival 11am).